* Black Man kills scores ..... , well there was that Black guy in suburban NYC once - who killed some folks, but no, not really,
* Latino Man kills scores ....., I can't remember that one
* Columbine - White Male Teens
* Virginia Tech - Asian Male
How are White and Asian Men - different - from "the others". Not my original theory, but Black and Latino men learn to express their emotions and blow off energy - not always in healthy ways, but they don't usually build it up inside until it explodes in Mass Killings.
Asian men are often forced to keep their emotions inside - to not express their feelings.
Many White men often feel pressured to keep their emotions inside - to not express their feelings. Bullying an d emotional isolation - seem much more common amongst these men than amongst the first two mentioned groups.
Thanks!
6 comments:
I think there are probably various conversations to be had about race as regards the Virginia Tech murders, but I think it's an area where great care is called for. I'm a little leery of making generalizations along the lines of "Black and Latino men learn to express their emotions and blow off energy..." without hearing some specific examples, or (even better) some references to studies that show this is actually the case, aside from anecdotal evidence.
Hyphen Magazine's blog has quite a few interesting links, including one to a particularly interesting article which I briefly quote here:
All across America, no doubt, non-Korean Asian-Americans are now heaving a sigh of relief. “Asian,” after all, was the four-alarm-fire word we saw throughout the day after the shootings that took the lives of 33 people at Virginia Tech. The shooter was “Asian,” the news reports said. But who was this “Asian” exactly? Before the news identified the killer as Cho Seung-hui, a 23-year-old English major from South Korea, all ethnic backgrounds were up for grabs. A Chinese friend from a small college town on the East Coast called to say: “Please, please let it be some other Asian. We’ll be in deep if it’s Chinese.”
Jeff, I'm not saying that Black and Latino men don't fight and kill others. I do think that it is Not coincidence that mass killers in the U.S. are primarily White and that where they aren't White, they tend to be Asian-American (in the U.S.).
I suspect that Black and Latino men find paths to exist within their socialization most commonly. Obviously, there are exceptions to anything.
Obviously we're talking about small percentages of White and Asian Men also.
I don't think that there has been much, if any, research focusing upon this.
I'm not scapegoating Asian-Americans. As a White Man - I'm much aware of what We White Men often do to other White Men.
Every story I read about stopping mass potential killings in high schools - focuses upon White Males, though the stories rarely focus upon this. Isn't it strange - that such killings don't occur in inner city schools - where Poor Black and Latino boys - would seemingly have much more reason for outrage at their place in life? I doubt it is that the security is tough there and not in suburbia.
We can disagree here.
Thanks!
Geo, I need to ask you to give some sort of evidence for what you're saying. I think your conclusions may well be valid, but I am uncomfortable taking your statements about ethnic distribution of mass-murderers on faith. Please provide us with some relevant statistics.
I think it entirely possible, for instance, that shootings in Black- and Latino-heavy inner-city schools might be just as prevalent as among white-populated schools, but merely make page four of the newspaper and not get embedded in the popular memory like Columbine or VA State. This would explain the perception that they don't happen. After all, part of the media outrage at Columbine was that a pair of nice white kids would do something so atrocious -- the same thing done by a couple of black kids wouldn't have been as newsworthy.
Please back up the following assertions with factual evidence:
* mass killers in the U.S. are primarily White and that where they aren't White, they tend to be Asian-American
* such killings don't occur in inner city schools
And, if possible:
* Bullying an d emotional isolation - seem much more common amongst [White and Asian men] than amongst [Black and Latino men].
Note that where we're talking about factually verifiable information, opinion is irrelevant. So it is not valid to say "we can disagree on this". However, there is one common factor across school shootings and so on: the perpetrators are all male (minus perhaps one or two I haven't heard of). And this is something the media has entirely ignored, as far as I can tell. I think it is much more interesting to discuss this tangible effect of boys being brought up to hate and fight than to speculate about whether Black and Latino men have better anger-management skills than White and Asian men with no supporting data.
Geo--it wouldn't completely surprise me if some of what you're saying turns out to be the case--I just am uncomfortable with some generalizations around race that you seem to be making.
Also, I think it's very important to talk about race as regards the tragedy--at the very least because a lot of blatant racists are using race as regards directing their anger toward people.
I also think Dave is right to bring in gender here--as I will bring up in a subsequent post that I've been working on. In that post, I make some uncomfortable generalizations which aren't too distant from some of the one's you're making, Geo, but I'm more comfortable making them because I can draw on my experience as a man.
I went to high school for a few years in a mostly working class black area. They were plenty of shooting and stabbings to go around. It is less "newsworthy" because it seems to go along with the stereotype. The white/asain killings seem more surprising to the audience who is watching. In fact most school shootings, happened in the 1920s and 30s. If you have any institution with a large number of people, who are from a large number of backgrounds, put in a new and somewhat enclosed environment odds are that you will get a few crazies who boil over. Also there are just sometimes evil people. They exist of all colors and creeds.
I can say as a white Anglo Saxon protestant, who is lived in a culturally different area, that yes we deal with anger differently, it is usually with a temper, very rarely do we cry of become overtly emotional. Emotions are never shown in public, and when in pain, mental of physical you hide it. I suffer from chronic pain, I make sure I go to the gym ever other day. I have never taken pain killers, even after getting surgery, there is a certain stoic sensibility.
Also we don't really lean on people, or accept help. I remember once my mother telling me when she was down and out, she did not accept help from her parents and would not accept welfare. When applying to college, I never filled out the fafsa form, we hold ourselves to a different standard. Asians, from the friends I have have a similar, high standard for accomplishment. I am not saying Latinos and blacks are not hard workers, just that they are willing to pat themselves on the back more. I am a physics, anthropology major, who is pre-med, and I am not really that proud of myself. Infact as I said in one post, I am looking to transfer to a better school.There is this need to always raise the bar higher, with each accomplishment you think, I should do this too. So there is this rewardless pressure.
Anyway that is my take on it, anecdotal as it is.
I should add one thing, I am speaking when of my own background a culturally upper class sensibility. Even when the money has been lost, the stiff upper lip remains. I think it is relatively the same, I have a close friend who comes from a working class Irish background, and the accomplisment mentality seems to be relatively similar.
He is a bit of a news junkies, we debate allot. His take on it, is that everyone has their breaking point, and some people it is a very low one. That anyone one of us can snap under the right conditions. While I do not agree with that, it is a interesting take with its own merit.
Post a Comment